Call for Proposals for Research Grants on Collaboration between Local and Humanitarian Actors in Urban Humanitarian Response

Closing date: 23rd November, 2015 at 12 noon, GMT

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) invites proposals for original research projects which can contribute to an improved understanding of the ways in which local actors, including municipalities, other government agencies, and local civil society, can collaborate with humanitarian actors for a more effective humanitarian response in urban contexts.

These PowerPoint slides correspond with an Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by UNHCR and WFP Jordan, discussing the development of hte interagency-intersectoral Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF) for refugees in urban settings.The VAF uses both econometric and sector specific modelling to measure and track urban refugee vulnerability over time.

InterAction, in partnership with UNHCR and supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, is pleased to announce a call for candidates to participate in a regional urban learning exchange.

The premise of the initiative is to connect senior program representative of national/international NGOs working in non-camp/urban settings with programs identified as ‘good practices’ through a series of regional urban good practices workshops facilitated by UNHCR.

Webinar on Community Based Protection in Urban Area (Urban Refugee Task Team Webinar Series)

These PowerPoint slides correspond with an Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by the International Catholic Migration Commission, discussing the lessons learned from field assessments focusing on combatting gender based violence in Malaysia.

This brief provides guidance on carrying out joint rapid assessments of humanitarian needs in urban environments within the first weeks of a disaster. Organisations can use it to ensure that joint assessments are carried out appropriately in urban areas, and to update their assessment practice.

The Market Analysis Guidance (MAG) suggests processes and tools aimed at inte - grating market analysis into the different phases of the project cycle, taking the existing Red Cross and Red Crescent (RC/RC) Movement’s technical documents into account whenever possible. The MAG was commissioned and developed together with a tool for the Rapid Assessment of Markets (RAM), which is intended to provide a quick, basic understanding of markets within the first few days after a shock and to support decisions on immediate relief responses. The MAG gives continuity to the RAM in the sense that it allows for a more detailed analysis and gives a more solid basis for market-related programme decisions. The time span of the MAG extends from two weeks to one year after a shock.

This publication features processes and tools that can be used to integrate market assessment into the different phases of the project cycle, taking the Movement’s existing technical documents into account whenever possible.

It is intended for staff who have a leading role in market assessment, as well as managers who need to make strategic decisions and implement market-related relief and early recovery work. It provides a simple approach to the data-gathering, assessment and decision-making processes.

The Rapid Assessment for Markets (RAM) is an instrument allowing humanitarian practitioners with limited market expertise and time to develop a rapid and basic understanding of key markets within the first few days after a shock. The RAM is designed to provide a quick and basic first understanding of key markets in the immediate aftermath of a shock. The RAM strengthens response analysis by providing market data, essential for informed decision-making on appropriate transfer mechanisms (i.e. in-kind or cash-based) if relief is to be provided. The tools used in the RAM, such as market mapping tools, can also reveal possibilities for market-support interventions and identify entry points to support market recovery. Therefore, the RAM is not biased towards a specific form of response, but facilitates reflection about a wide range of response options. It should be noted that the RAM does not assess the need for relief; this is the purpose of household and community needs assessments (highlighted below). Strictly speaking, the RAM can be used to analyse any commodity market – that is, it can be used for goods and services. However, the focus of attention in the immediate aftermath of a shock will typically be on goods.

The Americas has an old and generous tradition of offering asylum and protection to those who need it, a kind of hospitality that has been marked by a series of leglislative good practices in the region.

With the aim of facilitating everyone's access to these examples, the UNHCR Regional Legal Unit for the Americas has published a narrative commenting on certain legislative good practices related to the protection of refugees in Latin America.

This work coments on and underlines 30 legislative good practices. The compliation is not an exhaustive one by any means, and taking advantage of the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration, for the moment the first good practice that is presented in the series is dedicated to the regional definition of a refugee.

The case studies in the right hand column (see the link below) include links to consult the law, regulations or convention of which the good practice is extracted; almost all of the documents are available in the legal database maintained by the UNHCR Regional Legal Unit.

Database of livelihoods and local integration best practices in Latin America

The database of livelihoods and local integration best practices in Latin America is a useful tool for urban practitioners working in these sectors. It is available in Spanish and English.

Simply click on the link below and then search the database on the left-hand side of UNHCR Americas Livelihoods page. It is possible to search by country, category, category of the Mexico Plan of Action and through a free-text search.

Worldwide close to 80 million people are currently impacted by humanitarian emergencies arising from natural disasters and armed conflicts, such as those in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, and more recently, Nepal. WHO estimates 5% to 10% of these people suffer from a mental health condition such as depression as a result of the emergency.

People with mental health disorders rarely have access to specialized health workers trained in assessing and managing their conditions. WHO and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have therefore produced a Mental health Gap Action Programme Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG), so non-specialist health workers can better identify, assess and manage mental health needs.

The new guide provides practical, first-line management recommendations for mental, neurological and substance use conditions. Contents include modules on assessing and managing conditions such as acute stress, grief, moderate-severe depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, and harmful use of alcohol and drugs.

Mental health in humanitarian emergencies

Most people, adults and children, experience grief and acute distress. But emergencies also trigger conditions such as depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or prolonged grief disorder, that can severely undermine a person’s daily functioning. People with severe pre-existing conditions such as psychosis, an intellectual disability or epilepsy are even more vulnerable.

Managing these conditions presents many challenges to health workers. In natural disasters, like the recent earthquake in Nepal, people have been displaced, facilities have been damaged, and supplies of medications are limited. Health workers are often in short supply and under enormous pressure to see as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. And there are only very rarely specialist facilities available to take referrals. The new guide will give the available health responders the ability to begin to address these needs.

New guide enables general health workers to give mental health care

WHO and UNHCR hope all humanitarian partners will use the new guide to help reduce suffering and increase the ability of adults and children with mental health needs to cope in humanitarian emergencies.

The new guide will be used in Syrian Arab Republic, where the four-year conflict has displaced more than 7.6 million people within the country and left an additional 4 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. WHO started training Syrian non-specialist health workers in 2012. Since then over 500 health workers have been trained. The new guide will help accelerate and scale-up access to mental health care in Syria and other emergency settings.

The mhGAP is a WHO programme that seeks to address the lack of care for people suffering from mental, neurological and substance use conditions. In 2010, it published the mhGAP intervention guide, a widely-used evidence-based manual for the management of these conditions in non-specialized health settings, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The new mhGAP humanitarian intervention guide is an adaptation of the original guide, which has been tried and tested in the field. It is written specifically for practitioners working in humanitarian emergencies.

The Dynamic Analysis and Reporting Tool (DART) is a web-based data management system that allows users to explore profiling data online. Through the DART, users can explore, analyse and visualise displacement data collected through collaborative profiling exercises supported by JIPS. It includes data from urban profiling exercises in Delhi, Quito and Goma.

For more information, please visit: http://www.dart.jips.org/

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Webinar on Livelihoods Programming in Urban Settings

These PowerPoint slides correspond with an Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by the Women's Refugee Commission, discussing the lessons learned from field assessments focusing on urban refugee livelihoods programming in seven cities worldwide.

Webinar on The Accompaniment Model of Engagement with Urban Refugees (PowerPoint Slides)

These PowerPoint slides correspond to an Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), discussing examples from Thailand, Kenya and the Middle East of the accompaniment model of outreach and partnership that engages refugees and host communities.

Webinar on The Urbanization of Refugee Return: A Policy Overview (PowerPoint Slides)

These PowerPoint slides correspond to a Church World Service (CWS) webinar led by Graeme Rodgers & Andrew Fuys which examines the specific question of urban return in the context of the existing international repatriation framework. The webinar also considers the impact recent policy responses to urban refugee settlement (and other alternatives to camps) may have on the prospects and patterns of successful refugee repatriation and reintegration.

These PowerPoint slides correspond with an Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by UNHCR Education teams in Nairobi and Geneva, discussing the role of education in urban settings. It uses Nairobi as a case study, providing good practices, lessons learned and challenges plus general recommendations for programming focusing on mainstreaming and inclusion, partnerships and community participation.

Older persons are at risk of exclusion from protection and assistance programmes if humanitarian actors do not fully understand their needs, and do not involve them actively in decisions that concern their wellbeing. It cannot be presumed that they will always benefit from family assistance programmes, or from family or community support networks. Staff and partners need to deliberately adopt an inclusive and participatory approach. Through consultation processes (such as Participatory Assessments), older women and men can help to design and implement programmes that really meet their needs, and can be supported to do what they can to improve their own situation.

Working with Men and Boy Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Forced Displacement

Sexual violence against women and girls in conflict situations is increasingly understood to be a weapon of war. Following long‑term national and international advocacy, more countries are legislating against it, although prevention and redress remain extremely inadequate. Sexual violence against women and girls has also become a central protection concern in displacement contexts. By contrast, sexual violence against men and boys is less understood or acknowledged. It is increasingly evident, nevertheless, that this is a recurrent protection concern in situations of conflict and displacement. It can be a cause of flight and, for some refugee men and boys, a key source of vulnerability in the country of asylum.

Where social and cultural norms reinforce gender inequality by casting men as inherently strong and expected to protect women and children, attacks on markers of gender identity are a powerful weapon of war. Where social norms and taboos on sexuality and sexual orientation marginalise or stigmatise same-sex relations, sexualised attacks against men serve not only to diminish their masculinity in their own eyes and the eyes of perpetrators, but can be interpreted by the survivor, perpetrators, and the wider community to be an expression of his sexual orientation or gender identity.

Working with National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in Forced Displacement

Members of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples can comprise a large proportion of those seeking international protection. Furthermore, in many parts of the world, they are the victims of severe human rights violations, violence, conflict, ethnic or religious persecution, and in extreme cases, genocide.

Moreover, minorities and indigenous peoples are among the most marginalised communities in many societies: they are often excluded from participation in socio‑economic life, rarely have access to political power and frequently encounter obstacles to manifesting their identity. These obstacles are multiplied during forced displacement and increase protection risks. It is important for UNHCR to ensure that the rights of refugees and other displaced populations who are members of minority and indigenous groups are met without discrimination.

Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Persons in Forced Displacement

All persons who are forcibly displaced face challenges. However, LGBTI refugees are at particular risk because they often face targeted discrimination and violence in countries of asylum. Many avoid seeking protection out of fear of further harm. Their protection needs often go unmet, and they are unable to participate in activities or access support that could benefit them.

To ensure that LGBTI refugees are protected throughout the displacement cycle, UNHCR and NGO partner staff need to make themselves aware of their own preconceptions or discriminatory attitudes towards sexual orientation, gender identity, and bodily diversity and ensure that programmes are inclusive and participatory. Prejudice may stem from lack of knowledge about this group or their rights. Exclusion of LGBTI persons during displacement can be inadvertent or purposeful: in either case, it is discriminatory.

All persons who are forcibly displaced face challenges. However, persons with disabilities are at particular risk because they may be invisible, and because they are less able to participate actively in decisions that concern them and are less likely to have their protection needs met.

To ensure that persons with disabilities do not suffer discrimination, staff should make themselves aware of their own preconceptions or attitudes towards disability and ensure that programmes are inclusive and participatory. Prejudice may stem from lack of knowledge about disability or the rights of persons with disabilities. Exclusion of persons with disabilities during displacement can be inadvertent or purposeful: in either case, nevertheless, it is discriminatory.

For over a decade, UNHCR has used community-based approaches to strengthen protection. Though the term ‘community-based protection’ (CBP) is not widely used, for humanitarian organisations the concepts and approaches are familiar. Drawing on documents, interviews with practitioners and field visits, this document sets out key lessons that have emerged in recent years during the delivery of CBP. It aims to help UNHCR staff and partners at all levels to integrate community-based approaches to protection in their humanitarian work.

The dynamics of urban settings makes profiling a complicated exercise. How to locate displaced households dispersed across vast metropolises, when they might not want to be found? How - and whether - to distinguish forcibly displaced people from other migrants and urban poor living in similar situations? How to address the political dynamics of the city in a collaborative profiling process?

Based on experience from multiple JIPS exercises, the Guidance for Profiling Urban Displacement Situations addresses some of these challenges. It highlights the logistical, methodological, political, and security/challenges that confront practitioners planning profiling exercises in urban settings, and proposes solutions and best practices to overcome them.

This guidance document aims to highlight the challenges and best practices relevant for practitioners planning profiling exercises in urban settings. Two case studies (Delhi and Quito) are drawn upon as recent urban profiling exercises throughout.